Good News
March 04, 2000 16:32
Texas Court Accelerates Litigation Against SigmaTel
AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 4, 2000--Cirrus Logic Inc. (Nasdaq:CRUS) confirmed today that the U.S. District Court,
Western District of Texas, has ordered accelerated litigation proceedings against SigmaTel Inc.
The court decision to hear the case this coming July instead of 12 to 18 months from now came in response to a request by the
Crystal Semiconductor division of Cirrus Logic for a preliminary injunction against SigmaTel. According to Forward Concepts, an
independent market research company, Cirrus Logic's Crystal Semiconductor division is the world's largest supplier of audio
integrated circuits for computer, consumer and professional applications.
"We applaud the court's decision to accelerate our litigation proceedings against SigmaTel," said J.P. Violette, Cirrus Logic's vice
president, intellectual property counsel. "This decision speeds up our momentum in protecting our intellectual property." Violette
stated that the court also confirmed that Crystal Semiconductor would continue as the sole plaintiff at the July trial, in the same
manner as in earlier trials wherein Crystal prevailed over infringing companies.
The accelerated litigation proceedings against SigmaTel involve intellectual property protected by U.S. Patent No.
4,851,841(`841) issued to Crystal Semiconductor. Crystal alleges that certain of SigmaTel's AC '97 audio products are infringing
upon the `841 patent, which was recently determined by the same court to be valid and infringed by two other companies. In this
earlier litigation, Crystal was awarded $23.8 million in damages and attorneys fees by the same court that will judge the
SigmaTel case.
As the worldwide market leader in audio ICs, Cirrus Logic continues to leverage its broad and rich portfolio of audio technology
patents. With its Maverick(TM) brand of system-on-chip solutions for MP3-class players, the company is well positioned to be a
leading supplier in the emerging Internet audio market. Moreover, the company's well-established Crystal brand continues to
expand its presence in the consumer audio market with industry breakthrough products such the recently announced 3-chip home
theater audio solution.
This complete audio signal processing chipset combines a new Crystal DSP and firmware with an audio codec and a Sony/Philips
Interface (S/PDIF) receiver to deliver the functionality currently performed by as many as 8 chips.
Cirrus Logic is a premier supplier of high-performance analog circuits and advanced mixed-signal chip solutions. The company's
products, sold under its own name and the Crystal brand, enable system-level applications in audio, optical storage, and industrial
markets. Additional information about Cirrus Logic is available at www.cirrus.com.
CONTACT: Cirrus Logic
Tom Rigoli, 510/226-2259 (V.P. Corp. Communications)
trigoli@corp.cirrus.com
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